Houston Symphony Music Director Juraj Valčuha is recognized for his effortless expressiveness and depth of musicianship. He is known for his sharp baton technique, natural stage presence, and the impressive ease of his interpretations that translate even the most complex scores into immersive experiences.

Before joining the Houston Symphony in June 2022, Valčuha was Music Director of the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, from 2016 to 2022 and first guest conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. He was Chief Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI from 2009 to 2016. In 2023, he assumed the post of Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.

The 2005–06 Season marked the start of his international career on the podium of the Orchestre National de France followed by remarkable debuts in the United Kingdom with the Philharmonia London, in Germany with the Munich Philharmonic, in the United States with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and in Italy with Puccini’s La bohème in Bologna.

He has since led the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Maggio Musicale in Florence, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Rome, Milan’s Filarmonica della Scala, Montréal Symphony, and the NHK and Yomiuri orchestras in Tokyo.

He enjoys regular collaborations with the Pittsburgh and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. International touring with the Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI took them to the Musikverein in Vienna, Philharmonie in Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Zurich, and Munich; to the Enesco Festival in Bucharest; and to the Abu Dhabi Classics. With the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, he visited Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn to mark the 100^th anniversary of the Baltic nations.

Valčuha champions the compositions of living composers and programs contemporary pieces in most of his concerts. He has conducted world premieres, including Christopher Rouse’s Supplica with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Steven Mackey’s violin concerto with Leila Josefowicz and the BBC Symphony in Manchester, and Nico Muhly’s Bright Idea with the Houston Symphony. In 2005, he conducted, in the presence of the composer, Steve Reich’s Four Seasons at the Melos-Ethos Festival in Bratislava. Other composers he has supported and continues to follow with interest are Bryce Dessner, Steven Stucky, Andrew Norman, James MacMillan, Luca Francesconi, Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, Anna Clyne, Julia Wolfe, and Jessie Montgomery, among others.

Including his engagements in Houston, the 2023–24 Season took him to the Pittsburgh and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, San Francisco Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra as well as to the Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra in Tokyo. On the European stage, he performed La fanciulla del West and Tristan und Isolde at the Bavarian State Opera and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Jenůfa at the Opera di Roma. He led concerts with the RAI Orchestra, the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestre National de France, the NDR, SWR, and the Bamberg Symphony, among others.

In the 2024–25 Season, Valčuha joined the Semperoper in Dresden with Strauss’s Salome as well as the Paris Opéra Bastille with Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen and the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame. In addition to his concerts with the Houston Symphony, he returned to the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France, the London Philharmonic, the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester, the San Francisco Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra in Tokyo.

The 2025–26 season marks his fourth season with the Houston Symphony. His guest engagements will lead him to the San Francisco, Chicago, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. In Europe, he will join the Orchestre National de France, the Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, the Bamberg Symphony, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, the Basque National Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and on tour, and the RAI National Orchestra in Turin. On the opera stage, he will conduct Pelleas et Mélisande at the Geneva Opera as well as Don Carlo and La bohème at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Born in Bratislava, Slovakia, Valčuha studied composition and conducting in his birthplace, then at the conservatory in St. Petersburg (with Ilya Musin), and finally, at the Conservatoire Supérieur de la Musique in Paris.

Grammy Award-winning soprano Tamara Wilson is the recipient of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award. Other recent honors include an Olivier Award nomination and Grand Prize in the annual Francisco Viñas Competition held at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain.

2025–26 season highlights include a debut with Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in Die Frau ohne Schatten and a return to the Opéra national de Paris for new productions of Die Walküre and Siegfried. On the concert stage, she makes debut appearances with Staatstheater Darmstadt (War Requiem), Houston Symphony (Tristan und Isolde), and NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo (selections from Götterdämmerung), and returns to The Cleveland Orchestra (War Requiem).

Operatic highlights of Wilson’s career include Die Walküre, Turandot, Lohengrin, Tosca, Ernani, Tristan undIsolde, Fidelio, Ariadne auf Naxos, Otello, Un ballo in Maschera, Don Carlo, Don Carlos, Aida, Il trovatore, Macbeth, Elektra, La forza del destino, Die Fledermaus, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Die Feen, I due Foscari, Falstaff, Un giorno di regno, Simon Boccanegra, Idomeneo, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Il corsaro, La clemeza di Tito, and Norma.

She regularly appears on the stages of the world’s leading opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Los Angeles Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro La Fenice, The Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dutch National Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Teatro alla Scala, Arena di Verona, Washington National Opera, English National Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro de la Maestranza, Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Opera Australia, Opéra National de Lyon, and Théâtre du Capitole.

Wilson frequently partners with Warren Jones and has given recitals at Oper Frankfurt, Source Song Festival, Performance Santa Fe, and Cleveland Art Song Festival. She recorded a duet orchestral concert with Russell Braun at the Canadian Opera Company.

As a champion of new music, she commissioned and recorded Tiffany’s Spellbook by Evan L. Snyder, available on Lexicon Classics and popular streaming platforms. Additional recordings include Die Frau ohne Schatten conducted by Sebastian Weigle and released by Oehms Classics.

Stuart Skelton is one of the finest heldentenors on the stage today, critically acclaimed for his outstanding musicianship, tonal beauty, and intensely dramatic portrayals.

Richard Wagner’s music takes center stage in Stuart Skelton’s 2025–26 season. He makes his debut with the Korean National Opera in a new production of Tristan und Isolde, conducted by long-time collaborator Jaap van Zweden. A robust season also features major Wagner concert performances, including Die Walküre (Act I) with the Gulbenkian Orchestra under Hannu Lintu; Die Walküre (Act I) with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and van Zweden; and Wagner Gala concerts with soprano Nina Stemme and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. He sings concert performances of Tristan und Isolde with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and van Zweden as well as with the Houston Symphony and Juraj Valčuha.

Last season, Skelton gave critically acclaimed performances of Tristan und Isolde in semi-staged performances with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as concert performances of Parsifal and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Marek Janowski leading the NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Recent operatic highlights for Skelton include Tristan und Isolde at Teatro San Carlo under Constantin Trinks, at Glyndebourne with Robin Ticciati, and at Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville under Henrik Nánási. He also has appeared at the Bayerische Staatsoper in productions of Parsifal, conducted by Marek Janowski, and Peter Grimes led by Edward Gardner. With the Wiener Staatsoper, Skelton joined Philippe Jordan for a Wagner Gala under the auspices of the Musikverein für Steiermark in Graz and he returned to the main stage as Siegmund in Die Walküre conducted by Axel Kober.

Skelton’s first solo album, Shining Knight, presents a program of Wagner, Griffes, and Barber accompanied by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. His expansive recording catalogue also includes Tristan und Isolde, Britten’s Peter Grimes, Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, a Grammy Award-nominated Janáček Glagolitic Mass, a Gramophone Magazineaward-winning recording of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Die Walküre, Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. He has contributed to four recordings of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Critically acclaimed by virtually every major outlet covering classical music, American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is increasingly recognized for how she uses her powerful instrument offstage—lifting up women, queer people, and other marginalized communities. Her lively social media presence on Instagram and Twitter (@jbartonmezzo) serves as a hub for conversations about body positivity, social justice issues, and LGBTQ+ rights.

In recognition of her iconic performance at the Last Night of the Proms, Barton was named 2020 Personality of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards. She is also the winner of the Beverly Sills Artist Award, Richard Tucker Award, both Main and Song Prizes at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Her solo albums include All Who Wander, which received the 2018 BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award, and Unexpected Shadows, nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.

This season, Barton stars as Sister Helen Prejean in a highly anticipated 25^th anniversary production of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at San Francisco Opera. She returns to Houston Grand Opera for a series of role debuts, including Frugola, Zia Principessa, and Zita in Puccini’s Il trittico, as well as the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and she brings her acclaimed Ježibaba to performances of Rusalka at Bayerische Staatsoper and Opéra National de Paris.

Elsewhere, she appears in concert with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra, and in recital with Opera Memphis and Arizona Opera with Tucson Desert Song Festival. Following the fulfillment of a long-held dream to create a role in a new opera by Jake Heggie, her work as Elizabeth Van Lew in Heggie’s Intelligence at Houston Grand Opera will be released on a world premiere recording on the LSO Live label.

Described as “the possessor of a major voice” (Opera) and a “magnificent Wotan” (Die Zeit), Australian-born bass-baritone Derek Welton has emerged as a leading  dramatic voice of his generation, as well as a dedicated and versatile interpreter of concert repertoire ranging from Bach and Handel to the present day.

In the 2025–26 season, Welton returns to the Wiener Staatsoper as Orest (Elektra), to the Deutsche Oper Berlin in the title role of Der fliegende Holländer, and to the Opéra de Lyon as Claggart (Billy Budd). He makes his house debut at the Opernhaus Zürich as Pizarro (Fidelio), his house and role debut as König Heinrich (Lohengrin) at the Hungarian State Opera, and performs Wanderer (Siegfried) at the Müpa Budapest.

He is a regular guest at many of the world’s foremost opera houses and festivals, including The Royal Ballet and Opera, Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera, Bayreuth Festival, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Opéra national de Paris, Teatro Real Madrid, Dutch National Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. His wide-ranging roles include Wotan/Wanderer (Der Ring des Nibelungen), Holländer (Der fliegende Holländer), King Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Orest (Elektra), Bluebeard (Bluebeard’s Castle), Forester (The Cunning Little Vixen) and Mozart’s Figaro.

Derek has performed with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Czech Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in repertoire including Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, and Mass in B Minor, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time.

Welton’s discography includes performances as Wotan (Das Rheingold, Naxos), Amfortas (Parsifal, Deutsche Grammophon), Orest (Elektra, Unitel Edition), Creonte in Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo (Pinchgut Live), as well as Martinů’s The Epic of Gilgamesh (Supraphon Records), Stravinsky’s Pulcinella (Harmonia Mundi), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Ondine and Brattle Media), and a solo CD of Vaughan Williams songs with Iain Burnside for Albion Records.

Derek Welton holds degrees in Linguistics and German from the University of Melbourne and in Music from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee is the 2025 recipient of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award, was named the International Opera Awards 2025 Male Singer of the Year, and is First Prize winner of the Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition, winner of the Zarzuela Prize at Operalia, and Grand Prize Winner of The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition.

In the 2025–26 season, Brownlee makes debuts at Lyric Opera of Chicago in Salome(Jochanaan) and with Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería for a recording of Salome (Jochanaan). He returns to Bayerische Staatsoper for a new production of Die Walküre (Wotan) directed by Calixto Bieito, Bayreuther Festspiele in Der fliegende Holländer (title role), Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía for Salome (Jochanaan), and to Oper Frankfurt in Peter Grimes (Captain Balstrode), Tosca (Scarpia), and Tristan und Isolde (Kurwenal).

On the concert stage, he debuts with the Houston Symphony for Act II of Tristan und Isolde(Kurwenal & Melot), returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and appears on the 2025 Richard Tucker Gala.

Brownlee has performed at many of the world’s leading opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, Dutch National Opera, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Oper Frankfurt, Opernhaus Zürich, Bayerische Staatsoper, The Santa Fe Opera, Teatro de São Carlos, LA Opera, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Bayreuther Festspiele, Oper Leipzig, Irish National Opera, the Dallas Opera, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, The Atlanta Opera, and Bard SummerScape.

He has worked with a diverse group of conductors, among them Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Susanna Mälkki, Pablo Heras-Casado, Kent Nagano, James Conlon, Emmanuel Villaume, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Thomas Guggeis, Carlo Rizzi, Harry Bicket, Vladimir Jurowski, Eun Sun Kim, Fabio Luisi, Gemma New, Giacomo Sagripanti, James Gaffigan, Marco Armiliato, Sebastian Weigle, Tarmo Peltokoski, Simone Young, Speranza Scappucci, and Erik Nielsen.

Brownlee began his professional career as a member of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program at LA Opera, where he appeared in Les pêcheurs de perles (Nourabad), Die Zauberflöte (Sprecher), Madama Butterfly (Bonze), and Moby-Dick (Captain Gardiner) and is a graduate of the University of South Alabama and Rice University.